Combination rail dolly and turntable



Sept. 16, 1958 D. D. JONES COMBINATION RAIL DOLLY AND TURNTABLE Filed Jan. 13, 1956 HIUTL //Y VE N TOR. DON/4L D D. JONES A 7' TO/PNEK United States Patent COIVIBINATION RAIL DOLLY AND TURNTABLE Donald D. Jones, Boone, Iowa, assignor of fifty percent to Ralph E. Patterson, .lr., Boone, Iowa Application January 13, 1956, Serial No. 559,056

1 Claim. (Cl. 193-42) My invention relates to improvements in rail dollies.

It is one of the important objects of this invention to provide a turntable mounted rail dolly so that the direction of movement of a rail placed thereon can be changed with a minimum of effort.

Another object inhering in this invention is the provision of a rail dolly of the above class that can be made immovable relative to rotation on the turntable.

A still further object contemplated by this invention is to provide a new and improved rail dolly to increase the accuracy in bumping rails.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a rail dolly that is susceptible of being easily cleaned and freed from foreign materials.

Other objects and advantages of this invention reside in the details of construction and correlation of the various parts and will be apparent as the description proceeds.

This invention consists of novel parts and combination of parts to be hereinafter described whereby the objects set forth are attained, as pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of my new rail dolly,

Fig. 2 is a cross section of this dolly taken on the line 7 22 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section view showing the connection between the set screw in the turntable and the stationary base plate.

Referring to the drawings a base plate 10, preferably of metal and circular in shape, is provided with a central opening 12 and a second opening 14 near the perimeter 16. A turntable member 18 is formed from an elongated plate of metal or the like of a length equal to the diameter of the base plate and has its edges 20' and 22 curved to correspond to the radius of the base 10. Depending from the underside ofeach edge portion of the turntable 18 are the respective legs 24 and 26 and to the central underside of table 10 is integrally or otherwise securely affixed the spacer or boss member 28. Plate or table 18 is rotatably mounted to base 10 by any suitable means such as the bolt 30, nut 32 and locknut 34 through opening 12 which is countersunk on the bottom side of plate 10 for obvious reasons.

Thus arranged, table 18 is freely rotatable on base 10 and legs 24 and 26 contact the base only sufficiently to eliminate any rocking action of the table. While the legs 24 and 26 may be in the form of rollers or roller bearings, I have preferably used solid legs for economy in construction and freedom from repairs which would be necessitated by dirt, gravel and the like getting into such bearings.

One end portion of the turntable 18 is provided with a threaded opening 36 to receive a set screw or bolt 38 which can at times be made to register with opening 14 (Fig. 3) to hold the table 18 immovable relative to the base 10. On the top side of table 18 and oppositely disposed on the respective ends thereof are the respective bearing members 40 and 42 which are detachably mounted thereof by the bolts and nuts 44 or by any other suitable means. Rotatably journalled in and extending between the bearing members 40 and 42 is the roller member 46 which receives a rail in a well known manner. Members 40 and 42 as shown are designed to extend perpendicularly from the perimeter of the roller 46 and thus serve as stops or guides against lateral displacement of rails moving thereover.

It will be understood that with the set screw 38 out of engagement with opening 14 in base 10, the direction for movement of any rail resting on roller 46 can be easily changed without raising it to reposition the dolly as is the situation with dollies presently in use. It is thus possible to assure extreme accuracy when bumping rails by a minimum of effort.

From the very nature of the work to which rail dollies are put along railroad beds, it is virtually impossible to prevent the accumulation of dirt, gravel and the like on and about the several working parts and consequently it will be appreciated that the easy detachability of the several parts in my dolly is a material aid to keeping thisidevice clean and thus increasing the duration of its usefulness.

It is submitted that the invention shown and described is aptly suited to achieve the purpose intended and is characterized by a combination of highly useful and mutually cooperating elements that combine their respective and proportionate functions in accomplishing the objects sought to be obtained.

It will be understood that the phraseology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not for limitation and that modifications and changes in the construction and arrangement of this invention can be made within the scopeof what is claimed, without departing.

gageable through said openings at times to hold said base and said turntable immovable relative to each other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 132,449 Dame Oct. 22, 1872 285,818 Kellogg Oct. 2, 1883 364,693 Webb June 14, 1887 814,105 Wililams Mar. 6, 1906 

